Home Office

Terrorism: Travel Restrictions

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to ensure that steps taken to stop British terrorism suspects from travelling do not continue to affect them once the suspicion has been removed.

Lord Bates: There are a number of safeguards to ensure that steps taken to stop British terrorism suspects from travelling do not continue to affect them once suspicion has been removed: The return of a passport after a maximum of 30 days where it has been confiscated under Schedule 1 powers; the issue of a passport on application where a passport has previously been withdrawn or refused as a result of the exercise of the Royal Prerogative; and the ability to travel or apply for a passport at the end of a Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures notice when it has either expired or been successfully challenged by judicial review.

Department for Education

*No heading*

Baroness Coussins: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how many additional Modern Languages teachers, if any, will be needed fully to implement the English Baccalaureate.

Lord Nash: The Department for Education considers the resulting change to teacher demand carefully each time a teaching or curriculum-related policy change is announced.   The department does this by adding policy assumptions into the Teacher Supply Model (TSM), which informs the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) targets each year. Further details as to how the policy assumption process is managed within the TSM itself can be found in both the 2015/16 TSM and the accompanying user guide, which have been published online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-supply-model   We will factor the Ebacc commitment into future TSMs as required, and publish online in keeping with our usual approach to forecasting teacher supply requirements. This will be informed by the Ebacc consultation that we are planning to run later on in the Autumn.

*No heading*

Baroness Coussins: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Modern Languages teachers have been recruited in each of the last five years to work in (1) primary, and (2) secondary, schools.

Lord Nash: Recruitment to primary initial teacher training (ITT) is not subject specific. Therefore, the Department for Education does not hold data on those recruited in languages to primary schools. The number of people recruited to secondary ITT in languages over the last five years is shown in the table below: Recruitment year2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/15Number recruited1,5501,4101,6201,3241,105

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Pets: Animal Welfare

Lord Hoyle: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that there are regular inspection regimes, based on good husbandry practice, for all pet suppliers including shops, breeders and re-homing centres.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Local authorities are required by law to license anyone selling animals as a business and dog breeders. Before issuing a licence the local authority must inspect the premises concerned. Clear guidance and model conditions are available to assist this process. Powers are also available to local authorities to re-inspect including in response to concerns about poor welfare.   Re-homing centres are not subject to a specific regulatory regime but local authorities have powers under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to investigate if there are concerns about poor animal welfare.

Animal Feed: Residues

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the maximum residual levels of glyphosate and the constituent chemicals in Roundup formulations in proteins for animal feed.

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many tests for Roundup residue have been conducted in the last five years; and how many samples were found to exceed the maximum residue levels.

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many tests have been conducted on home-grown corn and rape seeds that have been sprayed with Roundup as a pre-harvest desiccant in the last five years, and how many of those tests have shown that maximum residue levels have been exceeded.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Maximum residue levels (MRLs) are set so as to reflect the highest amount of pesticide residue expected in food when a pesticide is used in accordance with its authorisation. This means that a residue level above the relevant MRL does not necessarily indicate an unacceptable risk for consumers.   ‘Roundup’ is the trade name of one product among many herbicides which contain the active substance glyphosate. The Government has undertaken 2,046 tests for glyphosate in the last five years. During 2011, 17 samples of lentils and three samples of pulses contained residues above the permitted MRL. An assessment of these findings found no concerns for human health from these residues. The MRL for lentils did not reflect glyphosate use permitted outside the EU. After proper technical assessment, that MRL was subsequently raised to accommodate such use. All the earlier lentil samples contained residues below the new MRL. Results are published online by the Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food.   Crops or proteins produced exclusively for animal consumption are not currently subject to EU MRLs. However, crops such as soya that are grown for both human and animal consumption are subject to MRLs set under Regulation (EC) No 396/2005. The current MRLs set for glyphosate are published in Commission Regulation (EU) No 293/2013.   The Government has not conducted any analytical tests for glyphosate on corn (maize) or rape seeds. Commodities tested include bread, flour, oats, wheat, noodles, cereal bars, infant food, beer, soya products, rice, lentils and pulses.

Ministry of Defence

*No heading*

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the House of Commons Defence Committee's conclusion in its report Decision-making in Defence Policy that the Chiefs of Staff should be constituted as the Military Sub-Committee of the National Security Council.

Earl Howe: The Government has made clear in its September response to the House of Commons Defence Committee that we believe the current structure to be sufficient. The Chief of the Defence Staff attends the National Security Council with the remit to present the views of all three Services collectively. The Chiefs of Staff Committee is already the UK's senior military committee and feeds into the Chief of Defence Staff's preparation for National Security Council meetings.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to make local enterprise partnerships more accountable, without duplicating the work of local authorities.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: · LEPs are strategic partnerships made up of business, local authority leaders, and other public sector partners. · They are accountable for decisions they make, with democratic accountability provided through the local authority leader representation, and financial accountability through each LEP’s accountable local authority, which receive funds on behalf of their LEP. · To ensure basic accountability standards are upheld, Government has established a set of clear national standards and principles which are set out in the published Accountability Systems Statement for the local growth fund, and the underpinning LEP assurance framework. These standards are broadly equivalent to much of what we expect of local government, building on, rather than duplicating the existing local government framework set out in the Accountability Systems Statement for Local Government and for Fire and Rescue Authorities. · In line with this national framework, LEPs and their accountable local authorities have put in place local decision making systems to ensure funds are spent with regularity, propriety and value for money. These arrangements are published in each LEP’s own local assurance framework. · In parallel Government has also developed a coherent approach to the monitoring and evaluation of Growth Deals which LEPs are responsible for. LEPs will report against a range of data on inputs, outputs and outcomes providing clarity to Government and the public about what LEPs have delivered with their Local Growth Fund resources.

Small Businesses: Stress

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask Her Majesty’s Government,in the light of the findings of the recent survey by insurance provider Simply Business, how they plan to support small business owners who have fallen ill due to stress and overwork.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: We understand the pressures faced by small business owners. This year we launched Fit for Work. While primarily aimed at helping employers with employees who are facing long term sickness absence, the self-employed can access free, impartial work related health advice through the advice element of the scheme. Fit for Work is a free service which provides both a supportive occupational health assessment and general health and work advice to employees, employers and General Practitioners (GPs), to help individuals stay in or return to work. We are committed to making it easier for small business owners to run their business. We are helping small businesses access the finance they need to startup and grow with British Business Bank programmes already supporting £2.3 billion of finance to 40,000 smaller businesses. Small businesses have less regulation to follow, with savings to businesses of £10bn of red tape in the last Parliament, and have better access to business advice and support through GREATbusiness.gov.uk. The ‘My Business Support Tool’ helps businesses find the support they need quickly, and businesses can speak to or webchat with a helpline adviser direct using our Business Support helpline. Going forward, we have announced a new Small Business Commissioner to help small businesses to settle disputes and challenge unfair payment terms.

Measurement

Lord Blencathra: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to permit traders to sell goods in imperial units if they and their customers so wish.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Government recognises that some traders and consumers prefer or are more familiar with imperial units. Traders are already permitted to use imperial units if they are used alongside metric in dual labelling and consumers can still request imperial quantities. There are currently no plans to make any further changes to the law in this area.